National alliance commits to nurturing development of hydrogen-centric ecosystem
Oman's National Hydrogen Alliance (Hy-Fly), a grouping of leading energy industry stakeholders led by the Ministry of Energy andMinerals, has affirmed its keenness to support the development of Hydrogen Hubs at key locations across the Sultanate of Oman
Set up in August 2021 to help create a wider national ecosystem around a future green hydrogen industry, the 15-member alliancesees Hydrogen Hubs as key to unlocking opportunities for collaboration to enhance local utilisation and export of low-carbonhvdrogen, Promising locations for the establishment of Hydrogen Hubs include Suhar, Sur, Dugm and Salalah given their proximity toport infrastructure and the presence of industrial clusters as well
according to Dr Khalil al Hanashi (pictured), Coordinator of Hy-Fly, the alliance's aspiration to develop hydrogen hubs in 0man is tiedto their potential to stimulate investment inflows and strategic partnerships, in adition to enabling and driving the nationadecarbonisation agenda. Furthermore, hydrogen hubs can leverage existing infrastructure and services to accelerate the developmentof the hydrogen value chain.
Speaking at an energy summit held in the city recently, Dr Al Hanashi cited in this context a pre-feasibility centring around the planneddevelopment of a hydrogen hub at Sur on 0man's east coast, The site currently hosts the gas liquefaction plant of Oman LNG, anammonia and urea complex of Omifco, and sizable power generation and water desalination capacity.
' think it we are to develop the hydrogen economy, the hydrogen hubs - which (integrated logistics services provider) Asyad Grouprefers to as Hydrogen Valleys -are important because they are suitable for hydrogen production, they have the expertise to handleydrogen, and from there we can ship hydrogen derivatives (to export markets)" the official said.
When we talk about Sur, for example, we have an ammonia jetty, given that ammonia is also a carrier for shipping hydrogen aroundFurther, when we talk about Suhar, where know that around 40 per cent of the natural gas that goes into Suhar industries isonverted into hydrogen, L ikewise. when we talk about Salalah. we recall the recent news announcement about a hvdrogen-basedbunkering hub being established there fo ships" he stated, noting that Dugm wil feature a major hydrogen centre of its own onOman's southeastern coast.
mportantly, a key obiective of the Aliance, said Dr Al Hanashi, is to enable the development of an integrated hydrogen ecosystem tounderpin the future hydrogen economy in 0man. lnitiatives that wil contribute to this endeavor include the potential for value-addinghydrogen blending proiects, processing of hydrogen into chemicals, opportunities for hydrogen export, and related R8D prospects.
We operate as a body of expertise on the hydrogen economy of man he said. We have three working groups that provide anobiective) review. sometimes initiating work as wel, based on a steer from the Steering Committee headed by His Excellency theMinister of Energy and Minerals as the chairperson of the committee. The goal is to build that ecosystem that goes beyond theproduction of hvdrogen. We nudge peole to be part of that ecosstem. or we' orobablv not be harnessing the ful potential of thiseconomy
This is the shared national vision of Hy-Fly from Day 1 --to carry along every organization that is important to this goal, After all. as HisExcellency Minister pointed out earlier, the public would need to know what's in it for them; that is also part and parcel of the NationaHydrogen Alliance's objective to create that national vision for hydrogen."
